


Memories Of A Lifetime

by SparrowOfTheBlock101



Series: Days of December [17]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, Grieving & Mourning, Hospitals, Implied Medical Conditions, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Toys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:53:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28273410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparrowOfTheBlock101/pseuds/SparrowOfTheBlock101
Summary: Tobio goes to drop the toys off at the hospital with some ducklings.
Relationships: Kageyama Tobio & Karasuno Volleyball Club, Kageyama Tobio & Original Female Character(s)
Series: Days of December [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2038854
Kudos: 48





	Memories Of A Lifetime

**Author's Note:**

> TOYS/krampus/cedar
> 
> Ahoy. Welcome aboard the Ship of Feels. We're about to enter the Sea of Angst. You may or may not want tissues (I know I did).
> 
> I don't think there are any triggers, but read on with caution anyway.

He was going to ignore them. He was going to ignore them. He was going to ignore them-

"Don't forget to sign in. Don’t upset the kids. Don’t say anything about their appearances before them-I  _ will _ whack you if you do. Don’t-”

“-be an asshole in general?” Tanaka offered, smiling at the dark look Tobio aimed at him. “We get it, Kage. Chill.”

Tobio squinted at him, then the rest of his team. He sighed, adjusted his hold on the wagon with the amigurumi toys, and started walking. He didn’t know how to word it without upsetting anyone.

Whenever his grandfather had gotten ill enough to be hospitalized and had to speak to the doctors-words a child shouldn’t hear at the time-, he would visit the doctors and the nurses. Aside from Maki, Trudeau, and Koizumi, he had talked a lot with the ones placed in the child’s ward. Talked and played with the kids, distracting the ones that needed blood drawn, and soothing the ones who were scared to be left at the hospital. Staying with parents who was waiting with fear for their child in surgery, hugging the parents who did lose a child, and speaking with the kids who lost a sibling.

(Waiting. That was what had gotten to him, had always gotten to him. He was born  _ doing _ things, running or talking or playing. Arguing over trivial things, bartering over Pokemon action figures, exchanging recipes.

He missed cooking with Miwa and Kazuyo. Missed when he skated circles with Hyeonju around their respective siblings. Swimming with his dad in the East sea, fishing with imo, watching his mom banter with her former teammates.

Getting coached by Kazuyo and the Birds. Watching Sanada panic over something the Mochizuki twins did, seeing Hichika receive one of Abe’s sharp spikes and Oshitari sending it back with just as much vigor. Hayashi wielding her new hook hand and scaring Kamiya when she wasn’t expecting it. Atobe, shrieking her head off from the bench and riling the crowds with her trash talk.

He had the memories of them, could see all of them whenever he wanted (even his grandfather, the shrine forever in his house and taking the spot of his confidant when he couldn’t talk to a living person.

But the kids here? Some of them couldn’t leave their rooms at all. It was why he brought his laptop whenever he could along with a portable projector. Why he bought the recent kid movies despite never watching them himself. And the toys he brought and the music he played-

It hurt, but he went anyway because if he could make their days brighter, he would do it.)

“Let’s go,” was all he said and stepped through the doors.

**♡♡♡♡♡**

“Kirei-chan,” Tobio said quietly, leading Azumane to the girl. She looked up from the horse amigurumi Hinata had passed her. “This is Azumane-senpai. If you’re still wanting…” 

He trailed off as he grey eyes brightened, hands clasping after she dropped the horse on her lap. “Yes!” She nearly squealed and twisted in her wheelchair, pulling out a foam ball and lobbing it at a nearby girl.

Nuuju startled, batting the ball up before catching it. Kirei waved to catch her attention before signing. The other girl’s face lit up once she understood and flashed a thumb’s up before jogging from the visitor’s lounge.

Swinging her wheelchair around, Kirei considered Azumane intensely. He froze like a deer. She didn’t notice as she began rolling towards a corner. “Come over here,” Kirei urged Azumane when she saw him still standing beside Tobio. “I can’t play with your hair if you're standing.”

“My hair?” Azumane echoed, looking at Tobio then back at her, comprehension dawning as he took in her bandana. “O-one second!”

With that settled-Tobio didn’t doubt some others would join the two girls in playing with hair past one’s shoulders-, Tobio detoured to where the nurses were. “Hey…”

The brunet looked at him, smiling. “Yes, Tobio-kun?” 

“Is Nakamori Megumi still here?”

His heart almost stopped when the man’s face fell.

“She is. But…” The nurse shared a look with his colleague. “She hasn’t spoken for a while.”

Tobio recalled the last time he saw Megumi. He had been the one to tell her the news of his grandfather, her usually visiting the ICU as she was stuck in the hospital from a car accident that paralyzed her from the waist down, still undergoing tests. She had gone into shock and the doctors had allowed him to stay with her until her parents could come and his halmeoni could stay with him.

“I’ll visit her, then,” he said quietly and headed off, waving briefly at Hinata when the ginger looked at him with concern.

Megumi’s room was at the very back of the floor, near the elevators. It was one of the few rooms overlooking the courtyard’s garden and more often than not she would be painting whenever he visited. Painting the garden itself or fantasy scenes for the younger children in the ward so one of the nurses-more often than not Natsume-could use it in a story. She had even painted some of Kazuyo’s stories from his time on the Adlers and during his Shiratorizawa years. 

Tobio had been unable to visit her after that, grimly focusing on volleyball and the funeral arrangements he had taken on with fierce determination. He had messaged her about his games, telling her what channel they should be on or about the weirdos he met at the training camps. Anything to stay connected, but she never replied. It was… obvious why, though. When he had his grandfather’s eyes, the same passion for volleyball, and so many other little things…

It was just plain obvious.

He knocked lightly, slowly opening it as he announced himself. His stomach writhed when he saw Megumi just staring at the TV, some anime playing. Her usually cared for hair lied limp on her shoulders, the blinds were down and making her paler with the lack of light, and the anime was more like whispering spirits with how quiet it was.

“Hey, Megumi,” he murmured, his voice matching the room’s atmosphere and walked to the bed. “I’m sorry it’s been so long. I guess I got caught up with volleyball again like last year… and that human tangerine… When I get the chance I’ll introduce you to Yachi. I think she was kidnapped by Shina and her group and you know how much they can talk. May I paint your nails?”

She didn’t respond, her eyes barely shifting away from the TV. 

He bit his lip and chose to go ahead with it, dragging the bed table over so he could set the messenger bag on it. “I managed to find some dragon nail stickers-well, more like Hyeonju-noona did and sent them. But she told me what stores had them, so I’ve got a lot. I know you like the color green and there are green ones. Oh, I should mention their Chinese dragons. They’re the only dragons Hyeonju-noona like, which is why they are what they are.”

Nail polish bottles were pulled from the back, him looking them over as he settled on the edge of the bed.

“I’ll start with your toes. That way I can put your socks back on-wait, are you wearing socks? I’ll probably put some on for you anyway, I just got a fluffy pair recently because they resemble Chopper and I know you like him, so I brought them along. I was going to try making an amigurumi of him, but his hat was giving me trouble. It might have to be done separately then attached, but I’m still figuring out how to do that...”

He moved down to her toes, carefully uncovering them and pulling the tray with him. As he began painting her toes, he talked about the new recipes Hichika was trying and forcing the neighbors to taste test (“I’ll bring some when I get the chance, she hasn’t been doing it recently.”). Talked about the weirdos in his team (“If Tanaka-san or Noya-san make you uncomfortable, tell me. I’ll sic Shimizu-san on them.”). About how Hyeonju was getting ready for the 2014 Winter Olympics (“She’s determined to beat Kim Yuna. According to dad, she’s terrorizing the local skating community for assistance.”).

"... I wasn't ready to say goodbye."

The words broke through his rambling of his classmates and their antics, looking away from where he was working on her fingernails. 

Tears were sliding down her cheeks and Tobio forced his own down, swallowing as he took in her meaning. “I wasn’t either,” he got out without his voice cracking. His eyes burned as he looked at where she was clutching his fingers, throat closing up on a lump, and he closed the nail polish.

Megumi hiccupped and he launched into her arms, unable to fight the tears anymore. They wrapped around each other and sobbed into each other's shoulders, horrible and messy and Tobio had never felt any lighter.


End file.
